The decisions taken by the AKP government last week to privatize bridges and highways brought the issue of privatization back to the agenda.
The privatizing economic approach looks after the interests of the main capital centers in the private sector, not the people, the nation, or the public. For this reason, privatization is anti-people, anti-nation and anti-public.
Communism, one of the varieties of socialism, is therefore completely against privatizations and envisages the regulation of the economy by a communist state.
Social democracy, democratic leftism, and democratic socialism apply the mixed economic model. The mixed economic model opens space for both the private sector and the state sector. This model does not leave economic production and service to the private sector, but aims to protect the interests of the state sector and the public.
Privatizationism, on the other hand, advocates the wholesale privatization of the state and public sector. This model is an extension of the free market economy and neo-liberal economy and constitutes the essence of capitalism.
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Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Türkiye and the Republican People's Party, also adopted the mixed economic model. Populism and statism, which are among the founding principles of the CHP, are the ideological basis of the mixed economic model. According to these principles, production and service areas such as economy, industry, agriculture, transportation, education and health should be regulated mainly by the state for the benefit of the public, and the state should lead these issues.
These principles are reflected in many articles in the constitution of the Republic of Türkiye. For example, in the second article of the constitution, it is stated that the Republic of Türkiye is a "social state". The term "social state" here directly refers to the benefit of society. In the sixth article of the Constitution, it is stated that "sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation" and that "the exercise of sovereignty cannot be left to any person, group or class under any circumstances."
These expressions are among the reflections of the principles of populism and statism in the constitution.
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Since coming to power in 2002, the AKP government has implemented a populist, anti-statist, anti-publicist, privatizing, free-market, neo-liberal, capitalist model. These privatizations in the history of the Republic of Turkey gained momentum during the ANAP government after the September 12 military coup, continued during the DYP government, and broke records during the AKP government.
According to the economic report published by CHP earlier this year, 65.6 billion dollars of the total privatization of 73.7 billion dollars since 1986 was realized during the AKP period. According to this table, 89 percent of the privatizations made since 1986 were implemented under the AKP government!
This is a shameful situation. However, since the AKP is not a populist and statist political party, and acts as an extension of the imperialism and capitalism pioneered by the USA in the world, it sees this not as a shameful situation, but as a development to be proud of!
Hiding behind religious and national feelings, AKP is deceiving the nation and trying to create the impression that it is on the people's side. However, AKP is using religious and national feelings here only as a mask and camouflage. Because privatization, free marketism, neo-"liberalism" and capitalism cannot be categorically national. The Quran, the fundamental book of Islam, does not advocate a system of exploitation and speaks of equality, justice, mercy, conscience and charity, albeit in an abstract context.
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On the other hand, since many of the administrators who built a state in the name of populism, statism, publicism and socialism did not comply with these principles and established an oligarchic state model, the concept of the state was also worn down, and the opportunity was given for privatization, free market, neo-"liberal" and capitalist focuses to abuse this situation.
Therefore, the establishment of a state that is truly populist, not ostensibly, is a necessary prerequisite for the development of humanity.
