The Crises of a Closed Economy and the Establishment of TÜSİAD

The closed economy period of 1950-1970, influenced by the political, economic and social crises that it created, partially ended in 1973 with the first oil shock and then came to a de facto end in 1980 with the second oil shock and arrived at a final end with the abolishment of  the “Law Regarding the Protection of the Value of Turkish Currency” and the liberalisation of the “ Foreign Exchange Regime” in 1986. Objective conditions for the prevalence of the freedom of entrepreneurship on a national scale and having an impact formed in this new period with the adoption of liberal economy rules.

The establishment and development of TÜSİAD has been parallel with this economic background. The establishment of TÜSİAD in the year 1971 was more or less the reaction of the business world to the non-functioning and crisis-generating closed economy system. 1969-1970 were years during which the USA had entered a recession due to the extent of the Vietnam war expenses and the year 1971 is the year when the international monetary system (Bretton-Woods) collapsed due to President Nixon’s separating the US dollar from gold.

All these economic developments lead to the understanding in the business world that the Turkish economy could not go on if “the closed and public driven economic system” was to be maintained, and if they wanted to maintain it, then that this would cause a drastic loss of welfare. The interview held with Mr Feyyaz Berker, the founding President of TÜSİAD, by the departed Abdi İpekçi on August 23, 1971 in the Milliyet newspaper and the corporate history, published in  December 2008 entitled “First Decade of TÜSİAD” (Doğan Kitap Publishing House) are clear indicators of this consciousness, defined as the "Common Mind”.  

The Business World Provides Solutions

The Turkish business world, taking the structure formed between 1950 and 1970 and the developments in the world economy into account, drew up a new strategy covering the period between 1970 to 1985. The new strategy was the “free market economy” open to international competition. For 15 years TÜSİAD has articulated and advocated for this approach and also supported it through scientific work. In the 1980-1984 period, this strategy also turned into a political conflict with the government during the period of the departed Ali Koçman, the chairman of the Board of Directors of that time, because of the delay of the reforms which needed to be conducted. 

As a result, the political institution has adopted the TÜSİAD strategy, partly under the pressure of the economic and social circumstances and this has brought about the expansion and deepening of the “entrepreneur” class in our country.  It is the “TÜSİAD Strategy” which lies behind the voluntary spreading and diffusion of primarily the Industrialists' and Businessmen's Associations (SİAD's) thriving in Anatolia and the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TÜRKONFED) these form, as well as other organisations in the business world. TÜSİAD, serving as a model for these organisations and being attributed as a “doyen” are revelations of this fact. The empowerment of the business world and its reaching the maturity level where it can ponder upon and bring solutions to the country’s problems needs to be taken as a very positive development for Turkey. The necessary condition for a participatory and pluralistic democracy is the formation of an organised, responsive civil society structure. The prerequsite for that is an independent judiciary and free press.

Economic Foreign Expansion and Process of Full Membership to the EU

Between 1985 and 2005, following the application for EU membership in 1987, a tough candidacy admission process took place; however, once the admission negotiations began, a new era opened up for Turkey. 

TÜSİAD conducted scientific efforts under its responsibility so as to bring the economic harmonisation and democratic standards to the level of the EU, worked for the public good and it strengthened its international power of representation through representative offices opened first of all in Brussels and then  in Washington, Berlin, Paris and Beijing.

Between 2002 and 2006, with the impact of the suitable international conjuncture, the economy grew at an average of  7.5 per cent, the exports exceeded 100 billion USD, employment for 2.6 million people was created and as a result the welfare level of the middle income population and their demand for consumption and housing increased in Turkey. Freedom of “entrepreneurship” became more widespread, organisations for the business world strengthened and  foreign economic expansion began to push the conventional political ideologies. The contradictions to be found in political party programs in the whole spectrum arises from this fact. Despite the fact that the economy is rapidly globalising and the rules are being set by such organisations as the European Union, the World Trade Organization, the IMF and the World Bank; politics remains to be local.

Success can be achieved when the institutions of politics are able to adopt concepts and initiatives apart from local definitions and when they are capable of positioning the country at the levels it deserves in the global competitive economic environment. In an environment where every attempt for change that is not global is rapidly dragged to failure, the Turkish political life needs to complete its fundamental shortcomings like the law on political parties or the election system. This will make the political life in Turkey reach global standards, it will accelerate our international integration as well as increasing our welfare level and at the same time will foster democracy.