These words in the title belong to a businessman with whom we talked about why foreign investments in Turkey have decreased. I hear these and similar words all the time in conversations that are "unwritten". Türkiye is now losing its investment appeal.
We have been shaken by a huge scandal for the last month. The fund crisis, which is claimed to have reached 20 billion dollars in size...
How did these funds grow? How have companies' values inflated? What happened to the control mechanisms? How much of the investor's money will be returned?
The questions are many, yet there are no satisfactory answers.
Allegations about officials of regulatory agencies come to the fore in the news. The numbers are jaw-dropping. Hundreds of thousands of investors are trying to learn the fate of their money.
What needs to be done in such a major crisis of trust is to fully investigate the allegations, reveal those responsible and hold them accountable to the public. The pressure on journalists and critical voices increases doubts. Finally, my journalist friends Bahadır Özgür, Murat Ağırel and İsmail Saymaz were exposed to these pressures. It is no secret to the public that one of the reasons behind the seizure of Halk TV was the funding crisis.
Silencing voices within the country does not stop the loss of trust in the international arena. As a matter of fact, a serious warning came from the international index organization MSCI yesterday. MSCI has frozen some index changes for Turkish stocks until further notice. No new stocks will be added to Turkish indices, and if sufficient progress is not made by June 2027, Turkey's "emerging market" status may be reduced.
At first glance, the decision may seem limited to the capital market. However, the real danger is that the trust problem regarding some companies and funds has reached a level that threatens the international position of the Turkish economy.
The demand of foreign and domestic investors is the same: Transparency, effective supervision, rule of law and trust. Türkiye is a country with high capital needs and a heavy external debt burden. Moreover, it faces the danger of premature deindustrialization. So it's not just about finding more foreign currency; To increase the capital that turns into production, brings technology, creates qualified jobs and stays in the country for the long term. So, where have we come from in direct investments?
Annual international direct investment inflow to Turkey was 1.7 billion dollars in 2003. It increased to 10 billion dollars in 2005 and 22 billion dollars in 2007. In 2015, it was still at $19.3 billion. However, it decreased to 7.5 billion dollars in 2020. Although there were occasional recoveries, the peak in 2007 could not be reached again.
The picture is also negative in 2026. According to the information compiled by YASED from the Central Bank data, direct investment inflows in the January-August period decreased by 35 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, falling to 6.8 billion dollars.
Moreover, not all of these figures mean new factories, new machines, or new employment. The total direct investment also includes company acquisitions, real estate purchases by foreigners and debt movements between companies in investment relations. For example, in 2025, $2.3 billion of the total came from real estate sales to foreigners.
CAPITAL IS LOOKING FOR LOCATION OUTSIDE
There are also investments going abroad from Turkey.
According to TEPAV's calculations, direct investment inflows to Turkey in the first quarter of 2026 reached 2.6 billion dollars, while direct investments from Turkey abroad reached 2.8 billion dollars. In other words, during this period, foreign direct investment exceeded inward investment.
Of course, not every investment abroad can be considered a "capital flight". Companies invest in other countries to reach new markets and expand their production networks. However, while Turkey's need for capital for production and employment is so high, the weakening of inflows and the outward orientation together is a situation that needs to be emphasized. Offering tax advantages to investors is not enough. He needs to be able to foresee the future, trust his contract, and seek his rights in an independent judiciary.
Türkiye ranks 118th among 143 countries in the World Justice Project's 2025 Rule of Law Index. It ranks 136th in limiting the powers of the government and 134th in fundamental rights.
Of course, we cannot explain every movement in investments with democracy. Global interest rates, wars, inflation, market conditions and costs are also effective. However, when legal security weakens in a country, it becomes difficult to make long-term calculations.
It is difficult to achieve a permanent economic recovery and to stop the impoverishment of citizens without ending this environment of insecurity that darkens Turkey's future.
