This hegemonic triad of neoliberalism, despotism, and conservatism is an especially dangerous one. However, it is being increasingly criticized, and resistance movements against neoliberal policies are growing. Turkey used to be an agriculture powerhouseβone of only seven countries that could feed its people without agricultural imports. Turkey used to have state-led industrialization, import substitution, and protectionism, and still registered economic and industrial growth although it also faced unemployment, high inflation, and debt problems.
Turkey used to be all this and much more. After all, Turkey is a beautiful country, surrounded on three sides with seas. It has great lakes and rivers, huge forests, high mountains, and grand water falls. However, much of this was crushed beginning January 24, , the day neoliberalism entered Turkey and the government instituted a set of drastic economic restructuring measures.
The ruling center-right Adalet Partisi Justice Party began a neoliberal program, which built upon capital accumulation and export support, opened the Turkish economy to foreign capital penetration, and turned the state into a mere servant of capital accumulation. Export subventions, privatization, deregulation, and finance and trade liberalization continuously increased. The many economic crises , , , and β did not bring a reversal of neoliberalism; instead, it was further fostered by the very crises it had created.
Under the AKP, the state became a facilitator of a neoliberal market economy and the protector of private capital. It no longer had a role in production, and totally integrated the Turkish economy with global markets. The party also continued the IMF program in full accord with business circles. The first is crazed consumption via consumer credit. Lands, rivers, mountains, farmland, historical buildings, forests, parksβnothing is safe from commodification.
Thus, while weakening social policies and therefore public responsibility, the AKP promoted philanthropy to soften and ease the plight of the poor. Turkey may show signs of aggregate GDP growth. Cities are opened up endlessly to the services of capital.
