BEING NATIONAL IN PRODUCTION- Dr. İlhami Pektaş

Right after the War of Independence, during the time when Atatürk was the President, Turkey was able to produce its own national warplanes and sell them abroad even while experiencing difficult conditions. However, we have purchased several military combat vehicles from NATO, particularly the USA, since 1950’s, when we became a part of NATO and started getting into the Marshall Plan. As a result, our national industry has become foreign-dependent. In addition, highways got importance after 1950’s; thus, railways, which started developing after the foundation of the Republic, entered into the unproductive period.

In 1960’s, the first steam locomotives which are KARAKURT produced in Eskişehir and BOZKURT produced in a national way in Sivas, and the first domestic car which is the national brand DEVRİM produced in Eskişehir passed into our history. However, Turkey adopted the assembly industry strategy after 1960’s, thus could not start the national brand production.

In the industry of our country, the national industry has not been dependent on production. Instead, because of the implemented economic policies based on purchase and loan through import and assembly, and the pressure of the global powers, our country has turned into a country hosting foreign products and an assembly industry assembling various imported products.

As is known, the assembly industry is a type of investment that is made by the companies in developed countries aiming at benefiting from the advantages of cheap labour and market of the developing countries. The foreign company which has the patent right and the technological knowledge ensures the pieces to become the final product and marketed in the country where the assembly industry is located via itself or any domestic company in order to exceed the limits of law and tax including labour and shipping costs.

Many companies including Renault, Fiat, Ford, Toyota, Hyundai, Honda, Bosch, Siemens were established in our country between 1968 and 1992 which maintain domestic production but do not produce national brands.

Now we should change the solely assembly as industrialization  policy, and urgently need to adopt the national industrialization policy.

In the current age, the most important issue for Turkey is the domestic and national industry. Becoming domestic and national has had the determining role in all fields of freedom, competition in the global market, struggle, interrelation and differentiation throughout the historical ages.

“This domestic and national spirit is the spirit of the people who are shaped with the thousand years of the culture of living together in this land, reproduce by enriching the diversity, research, develop and feel that they belong to this land.

We need to adopt the domestic and national industry as soon as possible in all fields of the industry that makes Turkey foreign-dependent, make positive discrimination in favor of domestic production, and encourage the citizens and industrialists about this.

Turkish defence industry which has been producing with national capital and material recently; Altay battle tank, ATAK Helicopter, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (İHA and SİHA), National War Ship (MİLGEM), GÖKTÜRK orbiter, Fırtına Howitzers, Akya national torpedo, armoured cars, smart bombs and Kasırga rockets, heavy combat vehicles, National Infantry Rifle which have been developed and ensured for mass production by the Turkish engineers; and the first national long-range missile called Bora are featured as the most important nationalising steps of Turkey in the defence industry.

Domestic and national brands of public transportation vehicles have started emerging one after another, too.
The national tram brands of Silkworm and Panorama produced by Durmazlar in Bursa, the light rail transport vehicle Green City LRT, Talas National Tram produced for the municipality of Kayseri and TCV trambus produced for the municipalities of Malatya and Urfa by Bozankaya in Ankara, Istanbul tram and light rail transport systems produced by Istanbul Ulaşım, E-1000 and E-5000 electric locomotives of TÜLOMSAŞ -the affiliate company of TCDD-, new generation mainline and shunter locomotives, Diesel and electric traction motors, DMU diesel train sets produced by TÜVASAŞ, national freight car produced by TÜDEMSAŞ and TCDD National High-Speed Train vision projects have given the good news about the full independence and national industry of our country.

The tram called Panorama, which was produced by Durmazlar, has started to be used in Samsun and Kocaeli as well. The Company of Bozankaya won the tender of 88 metro vehicles for Bangkok/Thailand, and started producing in Ankara. Bozankaya produced environment-friendly Electric Buses for İzmir, Konya, Eskişehir and Elazığ.

We can enhance the list of the domestic production and national brand struggle in all sectors.

In summary;

Currently there is no product that cannot be produced by the industry of Turkey in all sectors, as long as the domestic and national brand is demanded. We need the National Industry policy planned in accordance with the urgent and strategic needs. This country has the intelligence, ability, potential, technology and infrastructure to produce the planes, helicopters, rockets, tanks, all kinds of defence needs, high-speed trains, metros, trams, buses, automobiles, computers, all electronic devices, communication tools and all strategic products as domestic and national brands.

700 Billion Euros of public acquisition is planned to be achieved by 2023 in the fields of energy, defence, aviation, transport, communication technologies, maritime, information technologies, health technologies, medicine and medicals, and construction equipment including municipalities. Thanks to these acquisitions, with the state policy prompting the domestic industry, Turkish industry could step into a new age with the condition of achieving the 100% of sufficiency rate beginning from 51%, and crowning the final product with the national brand.

When the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM), State Supply Office (DMO), the Bank of Provinces, Industry Cooperation Programme (SİP) Presidency ask for the condition of being domestic and having the national brand, give the priority to the domestic product if there is the domestic equivalent of a product, provide advantage to the domestic products, give the tenders of the products that do not exist in Turkey to the Turkish companies and transfer technology from the foreign companies; Turkish Industry will rank among the most developed economies in the world, the problems of unemployment and current deficit will completely disappear.

FINAL SAY: SOCIETIES THAT CANNOT ESTABLISH THEIR NATIONAL INDUSTRIES CANNOT BE INDEPENDENT.