The gap between 10th and 45th

Turkey has always had very ambitious governments. All of the governments that I can remember had very amazing projects and future plans for Turkey. It seems that the voters of this fine country are easily lured with big dreams, as they go on voting for the party which talks the talk even though it cannot walk the walk. If all the promises of all the past governments had been kept, Turkey would be a pioneer in almost all industries and it would have been a Turkish made satellite flying past Pluto now. Not to mention being a pillar of the European Union and a formidable leader in the world. 

However it is not the case. 

The current government based its propaganda on the concept of a “new and stronger Turkey” which would be among the tenth biggest economies by the year 2023. 

It is 2015 now and our WEF Competitiveness rating is 45th. 

Is it possible to be among the ten biggest economies while being the 45th most competitive country? 

Could Turkey’s 80 million customer base support this claim if Turkey cannot be transformed from being a consumer economy to a producer one? 

No and no. 

In the last 12 years this government has done a lot. But it is not enough to turn the dream they sold to the voters into reality. 

Out of 144 countries in the WEF rankings Turkey is the 51st in terms of innovation. We are a mediocre country when it comes to creativity and innovation and there are 50 countries which are building the future better than us. As each year passes the gap between the first 10 most competitive countries and Turkey is widening. While we are losing time on securing the most basic human rights, the world moves forward. Do we want to catch up or do we want to dwell on power struggles? Do we want to let people live as they want and think as they want, or do we want all the people to think just like we do and still expect to be a great country and one of the most efficient and innovative countries?
Let’s be real about who we are and what kind of a future we want.