The date of April 16, 2017 was a turning point for Turkey. The constitutional amendment prepared by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and supported by the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) was voted on in the referendum. The transition to the Presidential Government System was approved with 51.41 per cent, with the referendum, which took place in a dubious manner and where there were strong suspicions that the votes were stolen.
As a result of the referendum held during the state of emergency, with the change that was defended as a Turkish-style presidential system and made the parliament dysfunctional, all administration and authority were gathered in the hands of a single person. Since then, the economy in Turkey has collapsed, injustice has spread to all areas, the crises have become “stable”, long queues for cheap food have begun to be seen all over the country, inconsistencies in foreign policy have returned to the new normal, even democracy has become a sought after. The scorecard that emerged when looking back in the last 5 years summarizes the dire situation the country has come to.
Collapse of Economy
With the new government system, there was a complete collapse in the economy. The national income, which was 859 billion dollars in 2017, fell to 803 billion dollars in 2021. The per capita income decreased from 10 thousand 696 dollars to 9 thousand 539 dollars. According to the data of DISK-AR; While the number of broadly defined unemployed was 6 million 525 thousand in 2017, this number increased to 7 million 989 thousand this year. Citizens were unable to buy bread in the meantime. Consumer inflation was 9.22 per cent in 2017, this rate jumped to 54.4 per cent in 2022.
Citizens, whose incomes have melted with inflation, are in the queue for cheap oil and bread in almost every neighborhood. Even the most basic needs can no longer be met. On April 16, 2017, 1 dollar was 3.69 TL. Currently, 1 dollar is around 14.64 TL. In the year of the referendum, the liter price of diesel was 4.68 TL. Currently, the liter price of diesel has exceeded 20 TL. Economic devastation, high inflation, the situation of millions of citizens living below the poverty line has not slow down the excessive expenditures of the Palace. President of the Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, alone spent a month’s income of hundreds of thousands of citizens under the name of “concealed service expenses”.
According to the data announced by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, the central government budget posted a deficit of 69 billion TL in March 2022. In this period, the 102.3 per cent increase in expenditures on an annual basis was the determining factor in the deterioration in the budget outlook. In March 2022, central government budget expenditures were 224.9 billion TL and budget revenues were 156 billion TL.
As the figures revealed, the AKP’s brutal expenditures continued. About 788 million 491 thousand TL was spent in March 2022, for the unaccountable hidden service expenses that only the President can use. The one-month increase in veiled expenses has reached 366 per cent. The total amount of disguised expenditure spent in the three months of this year was 1 billion 14 million 688 thousand (114,688,000/) TL. According to the expenditure statistics, Erdogan’s disguised appropriation expenditure in March was recorded as an all-time record. Only the expenditure made in March 2022, surpassed the annual hidden allowance expenditures made in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. The previous record was broken by Erdogan in June 2021, with an expenditure of 463 million TL.
The practice of the ‘One Man’ government, which outsources almost every work of the public at high costs, has also had a heavy burden on the budget. According to the expenditure figures, 3 billion 27 million TL was spent in January 2022, 4 billion 862 million TL in February 2022, and 5 billion 74 million TL in March 2022 from the “service purchases” item. For service purchases, 12 billion 964 million TL came out of the state’s coffers in three months. The contractors, who became rich with build, operate, transfer projects during the AKP period, continue to fill their coffers in 2022. The amount spent for contracting expenses in the first three months of 2022 was 7 billion 925 million 622 thousand TL. 5 billion 620 million TL was transferred to the contractors from the public budget in March alone. Spending in March increased by 247 per cent compared to the previous month.
Public institutions, which are at the center of the privatization claims, also took high debts from the Treasury this month. One of these institutions, BOTAŞ, borrowed 37 billion 800 million TL from the state in March 2022. In this period, 18 per cent of the budget expenditure was spent on BOTAŞ. Thus, the amount allocated from the BOTAS budget in the last 10 months was 126.7 billion TL. A loan of 430 million TL was given to the General Directorate of Tea Enterprises, 230 million TL was given to the Turkish Hard Coal Authority, 55 million TL to Turkey Rail System Vehicles Industry A.Ş., and 650 million TL to TCDD.
Along with the referendum on Presidential form of Government, an inconsistent and based on daily interests prevailed in foreign policy. In 2021, warm contacts were established with the United Arab Emirates, which is claimed to be behind the coup attempt on 15 July 2016 by the media close to the government. In addition, “normalization” steps started to be taken with Egypt, Israel and Armenia. The deep economic crisis lies behind the AKP’s efforts to become friends with its “former enemies”. Since the government could not manage the crisis, it turned its route to the Gulf countries in search of hot money.
Social indices also took a beating
Unsealed votes marked the Presidential referendum process. There is a widespread belief in the society that the AKP government received a questionable “yes” from the referendum. What happened in the referendum was also the indicator of the final blow to justice. The government increased its pressure on the judiciary. According to the report of the World Justice Project, Turkey was 101st in the fundamental rights index in 2017. At the end of 2021, it fell to 117th place. Although the AKP government advocates a “zero tolerance for torture” approach, countless people have been tortured in prisons and by law enforcement in recent years. The Committee for the Prevention of Torture of the Council of Europe determined that there were a large number of torture cases in Turkey in 2017 and 2019.
Freedom of expression in Turkey under Presidential System, has also suffered greatly in the past 5 years. The government increased its vigilance against the independent press. Many media outlets were given to pro-business people with loans from public banks. Turkey was ranked 155th in the 2017 World Press Freedom Index announced by Reporters Without Borders. According to the same index, Turkey ranked 154th in 2021. In the past 5 years, countless journalists and intellectuals have been detained and detained for a long time. Nothing changed in the pressure on the press.
Erdogan’s administration has not made any progress in the field of education after the referendum. With 39 per cent, Turkey is one of the 2 countries with the highest number of people who do not have basic skills such as reading comprehension, basic mathematics knowledge, and simple problem solving in OECD. As of 2022, there are more than 2 million children in the compulsory education age group who do not go to school. In addition, the “Turkish Language Test in Four Skills” conducted by the Ministry of National Education in 2020 revealed that children are only successful in speaking.
Turkey ranked 103rd among 167 countries in 2021 in the Democracy Index. Turkey was in the last place in the Western Europe region, where 21 countries were evaluated. With the AKP government and the transition to the new government system, the people are more unhappy now. The World Happiness Index report has completed its tenth year and this year, the Scandinavian countries did not leave the top positions to anyone. Turkey, on the other hand, fell 8 places and became 112th. According to public opinion surveys; 70 per cent of the citizens say that they are against the system because of the Presidential Government System. Even the rate of AKP voters who said “no” to the presidential system exceeded 30 per cent.
The AKP government also caused a collapse in the field of health. The Turkish Statistical Institute could not even disclose the number of deaths due to the coronavirus. Among OECD member countries, Turkey was the country that allocates the least share to health expenditures from Gross Domestic Product with 4.7 per cent.
The 2017 Constitutional Amendment Referendum not only led Erdogan and AKP to further devastation, but also gave birth to hope for the future. The people who said “No” in the referendum led to the formation of a broad democracy front. As a result of the lower-than-expected votes of AKP supporters, the questions regarding the legitimacy of the new system still continue. The struggle of the democracy front led by the left-socialists against the Erdogan government is growing day by day.
The synergy in 2017 showed its first effect in the 2019 Local Election results. Those who united against the government defeated the AKP in many cities, especially in Istanbul. The meltdown in the votes of the AKP, which cannot manage the country, chronicles the crises and makes the lives of the people more difficult with each passing day, cannot be prevented. There are indications that the opposition that started in 2017 may grow and overthrow the government in the upcoming elections. In almost all public opinion polls, it is determined that the People’s Alliance and Erdogan may suffer a major defeat.