Salvation: The Third Way

Anatolia is the heir and owner of a great civilization extending from Mete Khan to Alparslan, from Saladin to Osman Bey, and from Fatih to Atatürk. This legacy found its true expression in Atatürk and the Republic of Turkey, the final Turkish state he founded.

Furthermore, our struggle is the same as the struggle of figures like Âşık Paşa, Hacı Bayram Veli, Akşemseddin, Taptuk Emre, Yunus Emre, and Hacı Bektaş Veli.

The third way: This is the path of historical legacy and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

The high genius of creating a new type of Republic of Turkey upon the collapse of the Ottoman Empire; the secret of building a modern nation in the dark steppes of Anatolia under the conditions of those processes, of realizing great economic leaps despite imperialist encirclement, and of “achieving much in little time,” as the great leader put it, lies not in liberalism, conservatism, capitalism, or socialism; it lies in the path of the third way, which is the path of Atatürk—namely, national sovereignty, full independence, science, and revolutionism.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was aware that the independence of a nation could not be secured without economic independence. While he mastered all economic doctrines, he remained bound to none; he developed agricultural and industrialization policies with an effective, pioneering, and moderate understanding of statism, tailored to the economic reality the country was in.

Atatürk’s economic stance belongs neither to liberalism nor to socialism. Atatürk believed that political independence could not be achieved without economic independence; he first established a financial structure suitable for the economic framework.

The characteristics of the third-way economic model, developed by Atatürk as an alternative to socialism and capitalism, are as follows:

* It is characterized by a policy of orderly and planned development within freedom, remaining sincerely and consistently committed to democracy,

* It demonstrates that the principle of national sovereignty is also the guarantee of true economic development,

* It is an economic model that does not ignore justice in income distribution,

* It is based on the idea of making the entire population economically productive, effective, and efficient by ensuring equal opportunity in education,

* It adopts full independence as a principle, knowing that without economic and financial independence, Turkish society cannot take its place as a dignified society within the civilized family of humanity; it is an approach that renders colonialism ineffective,

* It is a model that ensures industrialization by overcoming the obstacles set by developed countries to prevent the economic growth of developing countries.

The third way, which we call the New Turkey economy, does not resemble any of the existing economic systems or political understandings; it is not the same as them. It is an original economic policy, suitable for our country’s economic needs and the spirit of our economic history.

We are not bound to any of the schools within economic history; we are neither from the “laissez-faire, laissez-passer” school nor from the socialist or protectionist schools.

We are a new school of economics shaped according to the new economic understanding of the New Turkey. We call this the New Republic of Turkey School of Economics. The political and economic name of this school is the Third Way.

The foundation of the third way is the Strong National Welfare State, the New Social Welfare Economy, Welfare Nationalism, and Economic Nationalism.