"Two key matters requiring attention during Turkey's development"

"Two key matters requiring attention during Turkey's development"

In recent years, the middle classes in Turkey have experienced a unique journey compared to their counterparts in developed countries. While many Western economies have seen their middle classes shrink and lose ground due to automation, globalization, and rising inequality since the 1980s, Turkey's middle class expanded and moved closer to the socioeconomic center during this period.

However, recent years in Turkey have seen mounting economic difficulties that have begun to erode these gains. The disparities in the quality and affordability of services are growing, making access to high-quality services increasingly unaffordable for much of the population. This resembles the challenges faced by middle classes elsewhere, although Turkey's middle class historically bucked this trend.

The main factors contributing to the decline of the middle classes globally include stagnant incomes amid rising living costs, growing and widespread debt, lack of savings and financial safety nets, job displacement due to technological changes, rising inequalities, and unequal access to quality services.

In Turkey, the state of population renewal is sounding a serious alarm. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that approximately 80% of OECD countries have experienced a substantial decline in the population of children aged 0-4, with Turkey being among them. The highest age-specific fertility rate has shifted from the 20-24 age group to the 25-29 age group, indicating a delay in childbirth.

The population in Turkey is gradually losing its capacity for renewal, with fertility rates dropping below the replacement level. This is a cause for concern, as policies aimed at strengthening the middle class will contribute indirectly yet substantially to addressing this issue, as the greatest contribution to increasing birth rates comes from the middle classes.

The designation of 2025 as the "Year of the Family" and the steps taken in this context are significant. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's frequent emphasis on having three children may serve as an important foundation for the development of such policies.

Over the past 20 years, Turkey has undergone significant transformation and growth in various sectors, including education, health care, transportation, infrastructure, security, and the defense industry. A new political language has become mainstream in recent years, which seeks to draw upon the country's historical experience and heritage while remaining open to the achievements of the West and the contemporary world.

However, the OECD report anticipates that 37 out of 47 countries with available data will experience a decline in the 5-14 age group, although a decline is not projected for Turkey during the 2022-2031 period. Israel, on the other hand, is projected to have the highest increase (17%) in the 5-14 age group during this period.

The first major turning point in Turkish political life occurred with the breakdown of the traditional state-society relationship, evolving into a system of bureaucratic domination. The actors of the structure built through the first and second ruptures enjoyed a comfortable life in the country for a long period, holding central positions in all spheres of life.

The second turning point saw Westernization policies become mainstream in the cultural structure, reinforcing the first rupture and shaping the flow of everyday life. The third rupture has been the attempt to overcome the structure fortified by the first and second ruptures through democratization processes following the transition to a multiparty system.

The quality gap in accessible services continues to widen when people are unable to access quality services, leading to a vicious cycle that affects large portions of the population. Thus, meaningful and effective socioeconomic policies are needed to reverse this trend and ensure a sustainable future for Turkey's middle class and population renewal.

1. The economic difficulties in Turkey are causing a resurgence of challenges faced by middle classes elsewhere, such as stagnant incomes, rising living costs, and unaffordable quality services.
2. In Europe, politics and policies that focus on the middle classes can contribute indirectly yet substantially to addressing declining population renewal rates, as the greatest contribution to increasing birth rates comes from the middle classes.
3. In Turkey's recent political transformation, a new political language has emerged, seeking to draw upon the country's historical experience and heritage while remaining open to the achievements of the West and the contemporary world.
4. while the OECD anticipates that 37 out of 47 countries will experience a decline in the 5-14 age group, Turkey is not projected to see a decline during the 2022-2031 period, with Israel projected to have the highest increase in this age group.
5. In the realm of education and cultural policy, Westernization has become mainstream, reinforcing earlier political ruptures and shaping the flow of everyday life in Turkey, while democratization processes have emerged as a third major turning point in the country's political journey.

Read also: