For many years, Turkey has mistaken growth for development. However, the path to true development lies in production, industrialization, and creating added value. At the root of today's high inflation, foreign debt, and economic vulnerabilities lies an economic mentality that has distanced itself from production. As Atatürk pointed out many years ago, the key to development lies in establishing an economic mind that puts industry back at the center.
A sentence written on the wall of the Assembly Hall of the Aegean Region Chamber of Industry, where I have served as a Member of the Assembly for over twenty years, always catches my eye…
It is a sentence by the founder of our Republic, our Great Leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk:
“To develop means to industrialize”
The words development and growth are often confused even today. I wonder why our Atatürk did not say “To grow means to industrialize”? I am talking about a contradiction that should still be bothering all of us—industrialists, workers, youth, the elderly, retirees, and the unemployed alike.
There are certain indicators in the economy that explain the future of a country much more clearly than speeches in election squares. The share of industrial production in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is one of these. Because to industrialize means high added value, technology, qualified employment, exports, and economic independence.
In the early 2000s, while the share of industry in Turkey’s Gross Domestic Product was at the level of 28-30 percent, it has now declined to 18 percent. Is it possible for a country that thinks more about opening shopping malls than building factories, that builds housing instead of producing machinery, and that says “I will import and use it” instead of developing high technology, to reach Atatürk’s development goals?
We were 19th in 1983
As long as Turkey does not produce high value-added products, it can only increase its exports to a certain point.
The figures are proof of this. In short; how much we grow and how much we export is certainly important. However, these figures are not enough to place us at the forefront of development indicators. Let us take this example: Turkey was the world’s 19th largest economy in 1983. Today, according to 2025 GDP figures, we are in 17th place.
The point we have reached in 43 years barely signifies any real progress.
In contrast, we are 66th in income per capita, 45th in the human development index, 159th in press freedom, and 120th in freedom and democracy standards. These figures show us the difference between growth and development in its most painful form...
Concrete economy
For many years, Turkey has been following an economic policy based on construction and consumption as a growth model. Housing is sold through credit expansion, consumption is pumped via imported goods, and attempts are made to keep the economy running with short-term capital inflows. But the painful part of the matter is this:
Since industrial production does not grow sufficiently, the country struggles to earn foreign currency. When foreign currency cannot be earned, dependence on foreign debt increases. As foreign debt increases, the economy becomes more fragile. So, in fact, this deindustrialization lies at the core of the spiral of high exchange rates, high inflation, and high interest rates that we are experiencing today.
When the crises Turkey has experienced in the last 35 years are examined, it is understood that the root causes have always been moving away from production and failing to create added value. We always experience the same problems, apply the same solutions, and always expect different results. The only positive aspect of the deep economic crisis we have fallen into over the last year should be our realization of these truths.
For this, there is no need to look far either. We will take lessons from Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and proceed on the path of reason and science. We will produce, we will create added value, we will get rid of the obsession with burying money in concrete, and we will determine a new education policy that focuses on vocational training.
Turkey needs to return to a production-oriented development model. The industrialist should not be seen merely as a taxpayer, but as an actor that produces strategic value. Today, the energy costs, problems in accessing finance, high interest pressure, and exchange rate instability experienced in Organized Industrial Zones are leaving many producers breathless.
Turkey needs an economic mind that puts industry back at the center.
This content has been translated using artificial intelligence technology.