Turkey

on the World Today

EVEN before NATO, the Turks were straining every sinew preparing to defend themselves against Russia. With their wealth of natural resources wholly undeveloped, they were going deeper and deeper into debt every day to maintain an army of a million men, dressed in uniforms that were patched and re patched and passed along from one recruit to another, and in shoes that were not even patched, and living in quarters and tents without heat, on the thinnest of rations.

Since 1947, Turkey has receiv ed from us approximately a billion dollars, all but $150 million of which was for military aid. With the $150 million allocated to economic developments, impressive improvements have been made in the national economy. With the rest the Turks have developed a defense force which justifies their pride and is a consolation to every freedom-loving individual in the world.

The aid program cannot Continue indefinitely, and the question now arises as to what will happen when it stops. Since military strength is based on economic strength, we must seek our answer in the country’s prospective economic development.

The Turkish farmer’s standard of living has been traditionally lower than any in Europe. Living mostly in villages of mud huts, isolated from the outside world and even from neighboring villages for months at a time because roads were impassable, many farm people passed their lives within the limits of their village horizon.

In the high plateau country their diet did not include vegetables, because vegetables could not be grown there, or meat, because they could not afford it, except on the great religious feast days when a sheep would be sacrificed. To market their animals, they drove them on foot a few hundred miles to the nearest seaport, or several hundred miles to the market itself, at Constantinople. Fuel was limited to dung and a few twigs, and was available only for cooking. Tuberculosis and malaria were prevalent, and the mortality rate was high. Doctors and nurses were few throughout the country, and they would not live in the villages.

Agricultural methods generally were as primitive as the crooked stick of antiquity with which the farmers continued to till their fields. Crops were as unpredictable as the weather on which they depended. If the crop was good the surplus could not he marketed, for lack of roads and transportation; if bad, the people went hungry. The exception to this rule was in the extreme east, where surplus grain was sold to the Russians, who shipped it to Constantinople and sold it there. Even so, these farmers produced the major part of the national income. They were heavily taxed on what they produced, on each animal they owned, and for roads which were never built. A survey of sixty typical villages in 1939 showed that the farmer’s net income, after taxes, was about $25 a year.

With the Truman Aid a road program and other improvements were started four years ago, but it was with the free elections of 1950 that Turkey swung into a new phase of economic development — the phase of increased economic freedom and intensified effort. It is probably the only country in the world whose government has undertaken, as a matter of policy and with the approval of everybody outside the bureaucracy, to diminish rather than broaden state control of industry, business, and banking.

Better roads, better farms

The most spectacular progress has been made in road construction and agriculture. The provinces have been connected with all-season roads, and bus service reaches most communities. The farmers are on the move, visiting, observing how work is done by others, getting new ideas, new ambition, and new energy. Crops which used to rot because they could not be moved— or were not even produced, for the same reason — are now being sold at prices which mean undreamed-of purchasing power for the whole farm community.

In this period of four years, farm loans by the Agricultural Bank rose from $80 million to $300 million; the number of tractors increased from 1700 to 24,000; land planted to cereals has increased 50 per cent; cotton production increased 200 per cent; and several military technical schools which were established to train personnel in the operation and upkeep of mechanized equipment have returned to the farms and towns thousands of well-trained young men. Hitherto a cereals-importing country, Turkey exported around 2 million tons last year, and expects to increase its cereal exports to 4 million tons this year.

Some of the richest farm lands are in the Eastern Provinces, which until recently were so isolated that they were not a factor in the national economy. No Turk from the cities ever t hought of visiting that area unless his military service or some other duty took him there. All this is changing. Projects which will support agriculture, but which have not yet made themselves felt, are flood control and irrigation systems, hydroelectric and fertilizer plants, and educational programs in scientific methods. With good roads, and money in their pockets, the larger farmers are already going in for automobiles and town houses.

Can they get at their oil?

In mining also there have been important increases in production, but the indications are that the surface has only been scratched. Geological surveys to determine the mineral reserves must be made. Among Turkey’s minerals are coal, lignite, iron, chrome, copper, manganese, lead, and oil. During the years of the aid program, increases in production of coal, pig iron, copper, and chrome have been substantial, but unfortunately little progress has been made in developing badly needed oil. With rapidly increasing motor transport, a mechanized army, an oil-burning navy, and an air force, the consumption of petroleum products is increasing at a rapid rate. And all oil is imported.

Even the present government, with its many liberal tendencies, has continued the old policy of guarding Turkish oil as a government monopoly. After several precious years of surveying and drilling, the government finally succeeded in producing a small quantity in an isolated area in the south-central part of the country, and has now signed a contract for a refinery. All this has cut rather deeply into the national budget, yet it will hardly begin to meet Turkey’s fuel requirements. The Turks appear to have concluded that they have neither the capital nor the experience necessary to develop their oil on an adequate scale. This brings up the question of the role of foreign private capital in Turkey’s economy.

Turkey’s resentment

Because of the steadily increasing demand for merchandise which cannot yet be produced in Turkey and which she cannot pay for with exports, and because of her limited gold reserve and the tapering off of the United States aid program, it would appear that Turkey must have foreign capital. Broad statements favoring it have been made by the government, and laws claiming to extend an invitation to foreign capital have been passed, but when the laws are examined the invitation does not seem altogether cordial.

The Turks’ hesitancy about accepting foreign capital on terms that will attract it has a background that is important because it is a hazard which must be overcome before Turkey can become economically independent and militarily strong. By understanding it foreign capitalists can help overcome it. In order to understand it, a quick look into history is necessary.

When Mohammed the Conqueror captured Constantinople in 1453, he extended to his non-Moslem subjects, and to foreigners living within his domain, as a courtesy which reflected the liberal views of the Turks of that time, the privilege of living their own lives according to their own laws and customs. At that time the Ottoman Empire was stronger than any Christian nation, so the Sultan had no fear and no thought that his hospitality would be abused.

But by the middle of the sixteenth century the situation started into reverse. As the Sultans grew weaker, the Western nations became stronger. In time they were able to pool their Christian spirit, gang up on the Sultan, and force upon him not only the continuation but an extension of the early privileges. Under the pretext of protection of Christians, the Sultan was obliged to sign treaties which were called “Capitulations,” whereby foreign nationals were enabled to take over practically all Turkish commerce and industry — railroads, ports, shipping, mining, public utilities, and customs.

Non-Moslem Turkish citizens whose ancestors had lived in Turkey for thousands of years and who had never been outside the country were able to acquire, for a consideration, foreign passports and thus pass outside Turkish jurisdiction without changing residence or business. The Sultan, deprived of normal revenue, borrowed large sums of money from the Western powers, squandered it, became virtually their prisoner, and spent his life under the guns of their fleets.

When the Turkish people finally broke out of this prison in 1923, they had no capital, no technical knowledge, and no business or political experience. All they inherited from tyrannical Sultans and the Capitulations was an enormous national debt and a deep-seated resentment of imperialist concession seekers.

The Turk and the American

There is less suspicion of the United States as a nation than of those countries which took a direct part in the destruction and partition of the empire, but the private American capital with which the Turks have had the most experience has associated itself with the European combines and cartels, and thus has become identified with them and with the foreign policies of their governments.

Those powers were able to exploit even the religious bigotry of the American missionaries, who had the largest American investment in Turkey for many years, and still have the second largest. The anti-Turkish propaganda which was spread through the churches was probably the most effective the world had ever seen until propaganda was reduced to a science in recent years. It won American support for the powers that were sucking Turkey’s economic blood under a false pretext.

None of this has been forgotten by the Turks. If American capitalists also will remember it, they will find the Turks easier to understand and easier to deal with.

The Turkish people are just beginning to taste the fruits of personal liberty, of developing democratic institutions, and of an expanding economy. They still have serious problems ahead, some of which are even being created by the progress they are making. Production of agricultural products and minerals has overrun existing facilities — railroads, port facilities, and shipping. These newly created difficulties will be almost as hard to overcome as the problem of production itself.

Although Turkey is not likely to develop a heavy industry, she could and should fabricate much of her raw materials for home consumption. This has been started in a small way, and is furnishing employment for many who used to remain idle the greater part of the year. But here again, long-term international financing will be required to develop the necessary facilit ies.

An expanding economy

Turkey has a basic economic soundness which should appeal to foreign investors. The people are peaceful, honest, and hard-working, and they appreciate their new-found freedom. These qualities create a high degree of political stability. The country is rich in natural resources, agricultural and mineral. Water resources have scarcely been touched.

The ratio of resources to population is among the highest in the world. Turkey’s economy is dynamic, with an annual population increase of 2 per cent and in the year 1951 an increase in national income of 14 per cent, which compares favorably with the United States, where economic development has already reached a mature stage and where a vast defense program is under way.

Current trends point to growth in population from the present 22 million to 50 million which Turkey’s resources, when developed, should have no difficulty in supporting. This combination of growing population and increasing national income clearly indicates an expanding economy. Accomplished with the support of the aid program, it shows what can be done with capital backed up by some technical knowledge and experience.

Turkey’s military strength, on which her own security and her value as an ally depend, hinges on the speed and extent to which she continues to develop her natural resources. Only through extensive and wise employment of foreign private capital can she continue the good work.