We have a major HR problem

I started journalism around 12 years ago. Ever since, the most famous quotation I have heard from Turkish political leaders is “our young population gives us strength” or “Turkey’s most important resource is its youth.” However, I believe just the opposite. I believe our youth are our most important weakness because we cannot educate them. Turkey is lagging behind in every area in the European Union and OECD surveys regarding education. When I talk to firm owners, they complain that they get thousands of applications but they cannot find the right candidates for demanding jobs. They also add that what people write in their CV’s are not all the time who they really are, but who they wish to be. That causes many unpleasant situations after placement.

Naturally, it is not only about the private sector. The public sector is also having trouble finding good people. Unfortunately, the problems with private firms usually concern only the owners, but a human resources problem in the public sector hits us all. Sometimes it literally hits us, like the adviser to Tayyip Erdoğan, Yusuf Yerkel, who kicked a protester who was already on the ground at Soma. Sometimes it shocks us in the form of Yiğit Bulut, who thought Israel was trying to hurt Erdoğan through telekinesis, who was later awarded with two key positions. He became Erdoğan’s head adviser; then he became a board member for Türk Telekom.

Before that, two new members were assigned to Türkcell’s board who had absolutely no idea about the telecoms sector. Their only specialty is their close ties with the government.

The last drop for me was the assignment of a zoo manager to TUBİTAK. Ankara Zoo Manager Mustafa Sencar became the vice manager of ULAKBİM; he will be responsible for Cahit Arf Information Center. The Information Center is responsible for the management of the network that connects the Universities and Research and Development Centers together in the nation and the rest of the world.

I cannot emphasize how wrong these moves are. The government is not just paving the way to disturb the Turkish information industry, but is also killing our chances to become a leading country in the near future.